Pastiche is parody stripped of any norm it deviates from

Evidence

Jameson suggests that matters have gone a stage further — that while Modernist parody retains some conception of a norm from which one is deviating, Postmodernism is distinguished by pastiche, the ‘neutral practice of mimicry, without any of parody’s ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter and of any conviction that alongside the abnormal tongue you have momentarily borrowed, some healthy linguistic normality still exists.’ — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 115

Categorization

• DEFINE: Useful definitional anchor distinguishing pastiche from parody, a key term for a Jameson critique.
• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s strategic-essentialism work: ironic parody presupposes a norm one holds; pastiche has no such anchor.